I’ve been asked a number of times about how to develop and maintain effective content for church blogs.
Although there’s a number of very simple and pragmatic strategies that can get a ministry started they all exist in light of the “multi-authoring” strategy.
What I am suggesting is that if it is possible the ministry or church should have multiple contributors, multiple authors.
You can probably think of enough reasons why this should be your strategy, but here are 10 Reasons that I’ve come up with:
1. Idea Generation – Content needs stuff and ideas to be written about. A good blog doesn’t run out of content. Good bloggers behind the blog don’t run out of ideas. But we’re human, so the more the merrier here!
2. Editing is Nice – Although I’ve argued heavily about the need to just simply hit the “publish” button, you should always do some editing. Proof reading is one result of multiple authors. You can even establish “roles” and responsibilities. Quite nice.
3. Perspective – Having a different perspective gives the blog “life.” These add color and depth to your blog. Keeps it interesting. People like hearing from more than one perspective.
4. Variety – To go along with perspective, people like hearing about different “stuff.” Perhaps not all of the bloggers on the team like the same stuff. See? Let the passion speak for itself.
5. Accountability – This is helpful because it establishes a framework for blogging, keeping people on schedule and on time.
6. Motivation – Having others help you blog keeps you motivated. Period.
7. Another Look – If you’re not “sure” if you should publish a post (the content might be controversial) it’s good to have a sounding board. Having others there on your team gives you the opportunity to do just that.
8. Work Load – Obviously the more you have the “less” work you have to do. But, again, you can establish roles and responsibilities for individual staff members. For example, you may have one or two just dedicate themselves to research for the posts.
9. Authority – The more people who are authoring can provide that rounded-feeling of authority and expertise.
10. It Just Works – The best blogs out there are authored by multiple people. Period.
Do you have any additional thoughts?
Phillip Gibb says
When it comes to the Church Blog, multi-author is a must. Also because of the fact that the author/s will already be blogging elsewhere. We have started started a church blog recently and I must say that it is fun working with another blogger. Collaboration and creative discussion is really cool – I obviously don;t get enough of it.
Now we just need a better tool for Collaborative blogging than the preview link.
Phill(synapticlight)
PhillipGibb says
just saw this post on the Random list.
it has been a year now and I have noticed a few things.
1. it is hard to mobilized other authors
2. if they mobilize then it is possible that they have different ideas about quality.
solutions to that
Find champions not runners
John Saddington says
yup!
Jim says
I have a new editor/proofreader who I work with. I give them the raw stuff and they get out the red pen and send it back
human3rror says
😉 baller!
Jim says
This person was recommended to me. So far it's working. She used to proof for a professor at my alma mater. My wife told me about her.Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
From: IntenseDebate Notifications
human3rror says
thanks verizon wireless blackberry.
Rob says
I use expression engine for building websites; I turned my church on to it and they are building all their new sites with it. There is a post publishing flow that is available as an add-on—-not expensive either. If I do multi-authoring, I plan to use this.
http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressi…
human3rror says
cool!